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Optically Interconnected Phased Arrays NASA Technical Memorandum 100855 Optically Interconnected Phased Arrays [NASA-Ta- 10085 5) OPTICALLY I: NTESCOL~Y~CTL~~ N 8 8 - 2 '1 4 00 PHASED ARRAYS (NASA) 9 p CSCL d3A Uriclas G3/33 0 136320 Kul B. Bhasin and &chard R. Ku~th Lewis Research Center Cleveland, Ohio Prepared for 1 Advances in Semiconductors and Superconductors: Physics and Device Applications sponsored by the Society of Photo-Optical Instmmentation Engineers Newport, California, March 13-18, 1988 5 Optically interconnected phased arrays Kul B. Bhasin and Richard R. Kunath National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lewis Research Center Cleveland, Ohio 44135 ABSTRACT Phased-array antennas are required for many of NASA's future missions. They will pro- vide agile electronic beam forming for communications and tracking in the range of 1 to 100 GHz. Such phased arrays are expected to use several hundred GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's) as transmitting and receiving elements. However, the inter- LnCO connections of these elements by conventional coaxial cables and waveguides add weight, 0 0. reduce flexibility, and increase electrical interference. Alternative interconnections I w based on optical fibers, optical processing, and holography are under evaluation as possi- ble solutions. In this paper, current status of these techniques will be described. Since high-frequency optical components such as photodetectors, lasers, and modulators are key elements in these interconnections, their performance and limitations are discussed. 1. INTRODUCTION Phased-array antennas based on GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC's) are of interest as the next-generation antenna systems for communications and tracking applications in space missions. These missions include Mars Rover (Mars-to-Earth data relay), Mission Planet Earth (Earth radiometry with active array communication), and the Experimental Antenna System in advanced communication satellites. Phased arrays having hundreds of elements are becoming a reality with the maturity of GaAs MMIC technology. However, the current signal distribution methods (such as waveguides and coaxial cables) for phase and amplitude control signals and radiofrequency (RF) carrier signals to GaAs MMIC radiating elements suffer from high weight, mechanical inflexibility, and high loss. Optical techniques have the potential to overcome these 1imitations.l For example, opti- cal fiber as a transmission medium is lightweight, small in physical size, mechanically flexible, highly resistant to electromagnetic interference (EM11 and electromagnetic pulses (EMP), and virtually without loss. Its loss is compared with microwave transmission media in Figure 1. There are several approaches to optically controlled phased-array antennas, but most of them fall into two categories: one is based on the use of fiber optics and high- frequency optical components for signal distribution in phased arrays, and the other is based on the use of advanced optical processing techniques to achieve phase and amplitude changes in the microwave beam in phased-array antennas. Both of these approaches are dis- cussed in detail in this paper. From the components point of view, in the past several years, GaAs substrates have pro- vided the basis for the development of monolithic microwave integrated circuit technology. Low-loss microstrip lines can be fabricated on this semi-insulating substrate. The high electron saturation velocity provides the essential microwave device technology. At the same time optical waveguides, lasers, and detectors can be fabricated on a GaAs substrate with convenient control of the composition and thickness of GaAlAs layers. The feasibil- ity of fabricating a microwave and an optical integrated circuit on the same substrate pro- vides an opportunity for monolithic integration of both optical and microwave functions in optically controlled phased-array antenna applications in space communications to provide low weight and reduced complexity in systems. The status of these components is discussed in the following section. 2. ARCHITECTURES FOR OPTICALLY INTERCONNECTED PHASED ARRAYS The integration of MMIC's into microwave phased-array communications systems has .iden- tified optical interconnects as an enabling technology (Fig. 2). Two areas of development that are critical to the successful implementation of fiber are optical fiber architectures and integratable high-frequency optical components and devices on GaAs substrates. An analysis of potential architectures reveals that, at present, all of the possible architec- tures can be represented by following basic types for phase shifting from 0" to 360". Other architectures are possible where 360' phase shift is not required. 2.1 Fiber-optic-based architecture Control signal distribution is the least demanding architecture in terms of device technology development .2 The typical configurations assume a central control unit from which element assignments are determined and transmitted (Fig. 3). Addressing schemes of this type result in element-by-element control signal distribution, which requires high serial bit rates to address large numbers of elements in demanding communications traffic scenarios.3 An alternative design concept is to provide each element in the array with a minimal amount of processing capability, thereby distributing the system intelligence and easing addressing hardware constraints. The lower frequency requirements of control signal architectures (<1 GHz) allow for a more timely development. However, many technology issues are common to all fiber architec- tures. These features include the integration of optical electronic integrated circuits with GaAs MMIC designs, fiber device interconnection, and device efficiency. The RF signal distribution architectures are generally characterized by the point at which the communications data and the RF carrier are combined. In CPU-level designs, the communications data are impressed on the RF carrier before conversion to light. This type of architecture is the simplest conceptually, but is the most demanding on the optical requirements of the link, such as bandwidth, dynamic range, and noise figure. A more realizable architecture at present is that of combining the communications data with the RF carrier at the transmit or receive MMIC module. The greatly reduced high- frequency RF bandwidths required lead to relaxed system specifications, but two fibers are needed instead of one, and components for mixing RF and data must be incorporated in the MMIC design. 2.2 Optical-processor-based architecture A second type of architecture does not use controllable MMIC's as the devices necessary to create the appropriate phase and amplitude excitations for antenna beam formation.4n5 Rather, this function is implemented in the optical domain (Fig. 4). Optical beam forming network (OBFN) architectures use holographic techniques to coinbine spatial and temporal information for antenna beam formation. By optically creating the desired antenna beam characteristics, the difficulty in producing nearly identical MMIC phase shifters and variable gain amplifiers is overcome. The OBFN architectures have temporal device requirements similar to other fiber architectures, but have unique spatial device requirements. Temporal modulation, photode- tection, and high-power light generation are common to all RF signal distribution architec- tures. Additionally, spatial modulation, spatial sampling, and optical signal combining devices are needed to completely develop OBFN architectures. 2.3 Holoqraphy-based architecture Free space optical interconnections usin? a holographic optical element have been proposed for high-speed electronic circuits. The feasibility of free space optical inter- connection technique has not been fully assessed as applied to optically interconnected phased arrays. 3. OPTICAL MODULATION TECHNIQUES While spatial modulation is unique to OBFN architectures, temporal modulation is common to all fiber architectures. Temporal modulation can be characterized by direct, indirect, and injection-locking techniques (Fig. 5). Injection locking differs from the other two techniques in that it does not directly support the RF carrier, but is used as a reference to synchronize free-running microwave oscillators at the desired frequency. Conceptually, direct modulation is a straightforward technique.7 The RF communications signal is used to directly modulate a laser diode. However, the optical link demands for a directly modulated link are significant. As with other microwave/millimeter transmis- sion systems, direct links require large dynamic ranges, high center frequencies, wide bandwidths, and low noise levels. At present, modulation frequencies are limited to 30 to 40 GHz, largely because of the relaxation oscillation effects of laser diodes. Relative intensity noise (RIN) effects, the primary noise source in optical links, result in modest bandwidths at reduced dynamic ranges. At frequencies above 8 GHz, direct modulation technique specifications such as threshold current and depth of modulation are usually traded off to achieve very reasonable link performance. 2 Indirect modulation techniques use external devices such as Mach-Zehnder interferome- ters together with laser sources to modulate optical carriers. The interferometric-type devices use phase modulation between the legs of the interferometer to generate an intensity-modulated optical signal. Most indirect modulation techniques use devices that operate
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